Artwork by Haven Cha
Look around your room right now. What do you see? Perhaps it's a perfectly clean room with everything in its place… or perhaps you are more like me where your clothes are scattered everywhere and everything is in an ‘organised mess’. Either way I want you to notice how it makes you feel. Stressed? Happy? I, for one, find myself feeling stressed, especially when I have to do my school work there which most certainly does not allow for a comfortable working environment. Now, based on my research, I am more than sure that many of you reading this article right now might experience the same sort of stress when attempting to be productive in your cluttered room. So it got me thinking: why? Why do more cluttered rooms seem to make people more stressed out? Can aesthetics really alter someone’s mood? If so, what can we do to make our room or workspace more productive? Well, let’s go ahead and take a deep dive into this topic!
So first, let’s focus on the ‘why’. Now according to VeryWellMind, clutter does indeed have an impact on mental health. While everyone has various views when it comes to clutter, for example someone with a more perfectionist tendencies may be more stressed out by clutter, it usually comes down to the same reactions. The first one being increased stress levels. Within a study, it was found that women who had reported more clutter in their homes, the stress hormone, cortisol, was at higher levels throughout the day as compared to women who had less clutter. Not only this, but having a more cluttered room can lead to procrastination and less focus. This isn’t exactly ideal especially considering we are most likely all high school students reading this article.
However, clutter isn’t the only thing that is keeping you from ultimate productivity within your room. The interior design choices you make matter too. You see, depending on different aspects, such can have different effects on your mood and, in time, your mental health. One which is probably the most relevant for us is the artwork in your room. Not only do colours have different effects on emotion, but also artwork leads our brains to respond to certain patterns which we find appealing. Next is regarding the spaciousness of your room. Whether it’s physical space or just the illusion of it, having less space can make a room feel cramped and, as mentioned before, more cluttered. Customisation is important to have a room that you feel comfortable in and are able to fully work in.
I doubt that no room that you have walked into over your years on this planet has looked exactly the same and, well, that’s a stylistic preference. That’s customization. That’s decluttering. What makes a space feel like a space you can reach full productivity in is one where you feel comfortable. Not cramped, nor restricted. What makes you feel like you. So what are you still doing here reading the conclusion? Go ahead and take what you’ve learnt from this article and customise your room to the neatest, most ideal form. Evolve it into something new and better. I know you can!
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